Yes really.
I didn't want one.
At least wouldn't spend my money on one.
Neither did or would most Americans - not for the EV, and not at the time it was offered.
Very interesting that you have chosen to extrapolate your preferences across hundreds of millions of North American motorists.
Hell, if the LEAF came out this summer rather than last, and I was in a region they marketed to, I probably would have snapped one up rather than a GTI. Very different cars, I'll admit, but both would satisfy the main reason why I have a car: getting me to and from work.
Granted, I don't live in a cold climate that would compromise the range, my commute is ~50 miles a day (total), I own my house (so dropping a couple Gs on a charger wouldn't be a bad investment) and last, but not least, my fiancee has two ICE vehicles that we could use for road-trips.
I'm guessing you did not see the movie. If you had, you would have noticed that there were a variety of factors that buried the EV1; most of the trial-consumers were very happy with their leases, and would have presumably continued leasing, had GM continued to offer them (some went to great lengths in an attempt to keep them.)
Oh, and GM started to mass-market the Hummer the exact same time they drew down the program. There's a tin-foil head scratcher for ya.
Tens of thousands of folks put deposits down for LEAFs and Volts; sure the technology is still maturing.
I assembled and converted a regular bike into an hub-driven electric bike with SLAs three years ago. The thing is assloads of fun; back then LiPo/Lion technology was even more bleeding edge; if I were to redesign my bike, the bike would have cost $400 more, but the range would have been 10x and thing would weigh 1/2 of what it does. Oh, and I'd be able to commute with a lithium-based bike any season save for winter, getting to work via state parks in around an hour. Right now, when I strike for home on the
glorified 8-lane parking lot interstate, my travel time can greatly exceed this. If I up the technology, thing can pay for itself within a matter of MONTHS, if not weeks (re: gas and car depreciation.)
It is a mistake to assume your preferences hold for the wider public, or even for yourself (ask yourself does a LEAF/Volt/EV1 make sense to you if gas were flirting with prices our friends in Finland are paying.)
There is a misconception that the automakers cater to N. American tastes. Henry Ford's color choices for the T, or the availability and variety of hatchbacks vs small sedans (HA!) belie this notion.
Automakers have a distinct incentive to sell us the most profitable outputs possible, and profitable is, by it's very essence, not economical. It is to their advantage to market inefficiencies; these inefficiencies are internalized by the customers, and turned into tastes. But they're not tastes, they're merely
perceptions of tastes.
And in the end, you have legions of assholes buying 5,000 lb moving apartments, simultaneous to a whole feast of awful shit going down, to support/as a result of, said moving apartments.
